Stopping Bike Thieves

The SAFE Bikes program, a public nonprofit, is not entrapment. No one is being lured into committing a crime that he would otherwise not have committed.

Serial bike thieves have avoided prosecution by stealing property of low value. In fact, some mocked the police officers who arrested them by saying they would be back on the streets to continue stealing.

The point of using bicycles with a value in excess of $950 is to have the crime qualify as grand theft, a felony offense. With that charge, the thief is likely to be prosecuted and removed from the street. The tactic creates both consequences for the perpetrators and a deterrent for other would-be thieves.

In fact, since the inception of SAFE Bikes in February, several high-profile bike thieves have been apprehended, and theft has decreased.